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EpiPen Expiration Dates

It's time to purchase some new EpiPens. The ones my pharmacy had were only good for 8 months, and I didn't accept them. Tomorrow I'm going to call around to see if anyone has pens that are good for longer. The ones I have don't expire until April. Am I being reasonable? What is the average life of an EpiPen? How long should a prescription last? I was hoping for at least a year.

I just picked up an EpiPen Jr. at Walgreen Pharmacy yesterday, and it is good for one year. I didnt even check with the pharmacy when I put in my order. I certainly would have taken it back if it were only good for 8 months!

Good for you! I also will not accept an Epi-pen with an expir. date less than a year. There is are some posts on this board "somewhere" re. Epi-pen's expiration dates. You may want to do a search to read for yourself. You will also come across an enormous amount of other valuable info. I couldn't find it but if my memory serves me correctly the date can actually go up to 24 months. I will keep searching for that post. If I find it I will let you know. Hey, when in doubt call the Epi-pen manufact. and ask them. I recently picked up 3 pens. One expires in a year, the others in almost 2 years.

I too just got new EPI-PEN Jrs., and the date for expiration is 4/2001. That is only for one year. I did not accept them initially, and I called around to five other local pharmacies, but they were all the same. It appears the EPI-PEN for adults tend to have a 2-3 year expiration date, but the EPI-PEN Jr. is only good for about a year. Not sure why, but I feel I did make a concerted effort to shop around. It's about the same. Michel

I too just got new EPI-PEN Jrs., and the date for expiration is 4/2001. That is only for one year. I did not accept them initially, and I called around to five other local pharmacies, but they were all the same. It appears the EPI-PEN for adults tend to have a 2-3 year expiration date, but the EPI-PEN Jr. is only good for about a year. Not sure why, but I feel I did make a concerted effort to shop around. It's about the same. Michele

I tried to find the other EpiPen thread that I read within the last month, but couldn't find it, so I'll mention this here. This suggestion would only work for those covered by prescription insurance plans, but it might be worth it for some. When our allergist writes prescriptions for the EpiPen, she writes it for 5 pens, not just one. Then we get the 5 pens for the deductible amount, rather than just 1. Any refills would be for 5 pens as well. I found this out by chance, but it seems to work for us. Hope it helps some.

Last month when I renewed our epipens, my husband came home from the store and I was putting them in the cabinet and noticed the expiration date was only one month away.
I immediately called the pharmacy, and had to speak with four different people before they would agree to exchange them!
I was so mad they tried to pawn off old epipens, and hope I wouldn't notice!
Then to have to argue with four different individuals as to why this was unacceptable, was just ridiculous!
I had never encountered this problem before, but I guess we all have to be careful when purchasing the epipens! You just never know!

I seem to have trouble finding Epi-Pens. My insurance pays 100% for the pens, I just can't find them. Since the recall a couple of years ago, my pharmacy, where I have to get my prescriptions, has had trouble getting them. When they do get some in, its like pulling teeth to get more than one at a time. I need 4 to make sure all of our bases are covered. When I do get them, they expire in a years time. I don't mind since there is no expense for me to get new ones, I just don't like the hassle of getting new ones.

Good morning. Yes epi-pens can last for 2 years. Between the manufacturer and the pharmacy is a distributor> Ultimately this one or more middle man is responsible for the expiration dates of your pens. Always call ahead of time to your pharmacist to give them the time to order new pens. Be pleasant but firm when asking for longer dated epis. A gentle reminder that they are not the only pharmacists around can also help.
Some pharmacist receive a dispensing fee for each prescription filled. hence the reluctance of dispensing more than one epi at a time. They would much prefer selling you the epis one at a time because that way they make more money. In canada, I was told a while back that the best time to renew epis was in Feb. and May because that is when the distributor normally got his new supply.

If your insurance covers 100% of you epis, you still want the longest date possible cause in the end you are still paying for them, they're called insurance premiums. One day you insurance may find that you renew too often to their liking and they'll either take them off their list of acceptable prescription or make you co-pay.

Pharmacists sometimes have to order a minimum number of a product, which may be why you pharmacist doesn't like ordering them for you. Maybe he gets stuck with them, then he/she has to take the loss. Ask how many epi-pens they normally sell, if it's too few, consider calling around to other pharmacies, maybe they sell more of them, and have more in stock or are more willing to order them because they have more customers who need them. In my neighbourhood, quite a few families buy from the same guy. He gives us a better price and always has in stock. He also doesn't give us short dated ones. You know strenght in numbers. This may work for you.

I see these posts were from 14 years ago but I think now is the time to renew this subject if it hasn't popped up somewhere else by now.

When we first started getting the Epi-Pen/Auvi-Q for my daughter, expiration dates were not an issue. We would get a refill every year and sometimes be able to go longer. She is 10.

Well now (as of just yesterday) while making sure we have all paperwork in order for the start of school, etc. I realize all our Auvi-Q (2-2 paks filled in 11-2013 and 12-2013) had and expiration date of 08-2014!!

Well I panicked to say the least, knowing I couldn't send her to school with expired medication and furious at myself for not realizing sooner that the pharmacy would give me medication that would expire before our usual renewal date.

As I write this it is Labor Day, September 1, 2014 and school starts tomorrow. To make matters worse, the pharmacy will not make this right (today), the tech told us we can call the manager tomorrow. Ok, so called Express Scripts and were told our insurance no longer goes through Walgreens and we couldn't get it transferred to another pharmacy because the insurance will no longer cover the Auvi-Q. They will cover the Epi-Pen. But that entails calling the pediatrician on Labor Day...needless to say our pediatrician was off and I talked to another doctor on call..before we even got to that point my husband suggested we just go with Walgreens and pay the full $300+ price for one 2 pak but I don't even think we could have done that with the insurance situation now. Arghhhhh! I'm just thankful I got hold of the doctor on call. Maybe I should wait until I have it in my hand though..we will see.

I've learned my lesson the hard way to check the expiration at the counter. From now on I WILL NOT ACCEPT a prescription that will expire before I'm due to renew. Absolutely NOT acceptable.

I was at Walgreen's the Saturday before school started ... like you after getting an EPI pen that expired in less than a year - once - I now request a minimum 12 month shelf life. I have one phamacy that will special order one for me so we can get max shelf life with a "fresh" one.